Cleveland Cavaliers’ forward LeBron James is taking one for the team. After teammate Dahntay Jones was suspended one game for tapping Raptors’ center Bismack Biyombo in the man-region, James has apparently decided to pay the fine for the transgression himself, according to Cleveland.com:
James told cleveland.com he would “take care” of Jones’ fine, though at the time he didn’t know the dollar amount. He’ll probably be able to find that $80 somewhere. Jones laughed and said James was “just a great guy, anyway.”
Ah, what a nice teammate.
For what it’s worth, the actual dollar amount of Jones’ suspension-accompanying fine is one 110th of his 2015-16 salary which is:
110th of Jones's salary? $80.17 – yes, eighty dollars and seventeen cents https://t.co/V3BZfFz1eg
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) May 23, 2016
LeBron probably doesn’t have to look between the couch cushions to find some extra change to afford that.
What bothers me the most out of this situation is that Dahntay Jones’ career has basically been shaped by being a guy who comes into games for two minutes at a time and tries to do something dirty. He has a history of similar transgressions. If this is something that is going to continue to happen, let’s at least have him pay his own fines, even if they amount to chump change for an NBA player.
And if you’re going to punish the Cavaliers, don’t suspend Jones, force them to play the guy for significant minutes, instead.
